Who apart from has pretended to be NT

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How can one pretend to be NT? That is as trivial as an amputee pretending to have all his limbs.

I tried to act in order, so I hoped, to fit in better - copying slang (I dropped my "H's" and to recall one chap I then sounded only half posh), copying dress (I was at my best only 2 years behind the current fashion) and behaviour - I copied. However, I was rather wooden in acting ability (a John Wayne rather than a method actor like Marlon Brando (at least in his earlier work)).

I suppose I simply tried to conform to save some of the teasing/bullying that I otherwise got and was so sick of.

Sorry, I've never been any more than spineless.


Michaelmas

I used to feel I had to pretend I was 'normal' but found it was eventually counterproductive as I was putting myself under extra pressure to keep up a pretence. I probably built a whole persona from scratch at work but couldn't always carry it off and felt guilty about the deception.
In times of crisis I reverted to being a rabbit caught in headlights.
Now I just try to deal with people on an individual basis the best I can instead of worrying about
a whole 'them and us' situation.Social skills are a project to be undertaken and thankfully,AS can actually be helpful when it comes to focusing on projects.
To use a metaphor,it's sometimes better to do a survey and find solid ground to build on rather than simply choosing the nearest ground,which could turn out to be unstable and collapse
underneath you after a while.

I would prefer people think that I was NT in public.

Yeah, I often find myself controlling myself. As strong as an AS urge may be, there just simply isn't a place for it in most scenarios. I have to restrict myself and discipline myself, and usually it works out alright.

I used to be jealous of people who were all put together; now people think I'm all put together, too. Ever since I learned that some classmates also see a therapist, I sometimes feel frustrated that other people are convinced that I'm an NT when in fact I've gotten so into character while wearing my '' mask''.

i guess most of the people i keep in contact with are not worried about my acting NT or not. they know my quirks they find them amusing. I do not find myself looking inward in that way, none of my friends are described as the typical NT. as i may have a hard time figuring them out as well, it is still less transparent with our honesty and they are my genuine friends.
one thing that I hear, that is weird to me is I am "over confident and intimidating."
I feel anything but.

I don't really see it as pretending anymore really.
It is a lifestyle that i embraced a few years ago after training social skills.
I must say though it is a slow process the learning of the social skills.
And in order to keep them you have to use them day in day out.
But it makes me happy being around people all the time and them being nice to me.
I have found working at a bar is the perfect way to learn social skills.
You are around these extremely social individuals for about 8 and a half hours of your day.

Ofcourse i couldn't really do this overnight.
I worked part-time before i did this.
And i used to need ALOT of time alone to recover from being around people all the time.
But gradually i got more used to being around people than being alone.
Ever since i have done this i've never been depressed, or lonely anymore.
Also since working full-time i've won my battle with boredom.
I used to not know how to keep myself from getting bored to death.
Good pc games i liked and good movies in my interest area were too few and to far between to keep myself occupied with.
I'm also feeling so much better physically since working fulltime, instead of sitting on my ass all day long.

Ofcourse this obviously won't work for everyone.
Because i was a extremely social person before my AS kicked in bigtime around 12 years old.
It was a gradual process but that was the age i noticed i became way more quiet.

glad you dont have to pretend anymore Bart21

I'm slowly givin' it up
used to block out /shut down any real feelings i had in public for these fake ones but that means you miss alot of information too and you end up feeling uncomfortable as said above

found i'm walking a little differently now

I never pretended.
If anyone would ask me, I'll answer honestly.

always